SL downloading 350 mb per hour?

Hi everyone,

Im new here, my av was born only a few days ago. Unfortunately it will be a little while until I can log in again as I have reached my ISP's download cap for the month already.

Upon doing a little research, I have found that in general SL uses an average of 100kbps during gameplay. This would mean that it is downloading 350 megabytes per hour.

I hope I have been horribly mistaken as this seems like an insane amount of data for an online game to be using.

Does anyone have anything on this? Does everyone who plays SL have unlimited broadband? I hope not. This would mean that anyone in Australia on Optus Broadband (as am I) would be stuffed, as they dont do it.

Cheers

100 kbps is only about 46MB per hour.

if my provider ever told me i used too much i would tell them to piss off..
for what i pay for my connection i would be up their ass so deep they could read my thoughts

ah thanks, ive made the classic kb/s - kbps mistake again

I've had so-called unlimited data usage for ages. That's how it's been marketed where I live. Comcast, my ISP, is in the process of implementing caps on usage, though just what limits they'll set in different places is yet to be seen.

In SL you can reduce the amount of data downloaded by increasing the size of your cache, setting your bandwidth throttle as low as possible while maintaining a tolerable experience, turning off automatic playing of music and video, and not flying around from sim to sim. I suppose you could avoid wearing attachments or otherwise using scripts that require complete object updates.

At the moment I'm showing about 30 kbs, or 13.5 megabytes/second.

Ewww! I'm so glad I don't have Comcast anymore - at least for Internet!

I just recently saw one of their commercials for their high-speed Internet service, boasting bandwidth of up to 20Mbps. That's a hell of a lot faster than the 6Mbps I get through AT&T -- but I have a feeling, as ISPs push higher bandwidth (especially between competing cable companies), it's going to come at the cost of monthly limits.

I would rather deal with slower throughput (6Mbps is still quite fast) than have limits on how much data I can download.

If you let everything go at max, this is true. We had satellite with caps at my old house. SL took an insane about of mb per hour. However, if you change the settings and don't teleport much, I've gotten it down to about 20mb per hour. This lets you be on a couple hours a day (we had a daily limit of 450 mb)

Amie, SL's a killer for us on capped plans. On average, I hover around 20-25gig each month, but I'm online daily and download quite a lot of other stuff, as well.

If you don't mind changing and you're not committed to Optus, for things like phone and/or TV, try one of the other ISP's. You may get a better deal.

To get a comparison, google "Whirlpool Forums". They've got all Australian ISP's listed, including pricing and plans.

Call me stupid or whatever, but how exactly do you view your KB/s MB/h?

It doesn't really matter though, 15 MBps and no download cap with Optimum Online. There used to be one, but it was gotten rid of after some very shady policies with them. They'd use to cap a 2MBps up connection to 150KB's up and wouldn't tell you unless you found out on your own.

Luckily, I never went through that.

Download a DU meter. it'll keep track of what your internet connection does in current speed up and download, and a total. Most are free, and are small enough to keep as a widget.
Or buy a keyboard with a HUD, like the Logitec G15, and install a DU Meter on the display.

I'm usually around 50 to 60 KB/ps, but when I watch a movie in SL it'll go from 500 KB to 1.4 MB/ps depending on the video quality of it.

In addition I use streaming music around 128 Kb/ps <-- small b

So after 4 hours of play I'm usually at 2 or 3 GB on transfer inbound.

I use a joint line DSL/Cable 20/1 and 15/2 Mbit.
SL core uses the Cable hookup, media and other downloads go through the DSL port.

If you don't know what it is, call it a Dual core Internet connection that spreads your usage over two lines.

Hi Amie I like you are on an "unlimited DL" and have been capped several times in the past. I am with TPG with a 40gb and with me in SL and 2 teens in many other things we get capped still.

It is better in SL now that you dont have to DL every upgrade as that use to be a real bitch. If i was you id look around and depending what else you do online as much as i hate andwont use bigpond it will allow you into SL without being metered so it does not go to your DL count

Capped internet is soooo 2002.

I have no limit. I usually have a monthly total of 50 to 60 GB. Which isn't a lot, but nobody remotely cares if I increase this to terabytes.

I had looked into a plan here in the states (I'm in a very limited service area) and found one that capped at 17gb a month. I put a meter on my computer and with normal usage of SL, email and forums, I hit that 17gb level within 2 wks.

yeah, my suggestion, if you're screwed with a cap limit... abandon SL...

well ok you can limit your bandwidth consumption by reducing your draw distance, never clearing your cache, and staying in one small area with few people around... but it kinda ruins the experience.

in australia there is basically no other choice than capped internet. It is just a fact of life here, uunless you have around $120 a month for the internet.

I already pay $60 a month for a 404 gig limit which can get capped at times with SL especially when i go through myn texture files etc... it just eats into the downloads.

The best thing i can say to people who are in australia and are struggling with caps is limit your TPs... spend a little less time in places where people tp in and out (everytime someone tps in you have to download every texture on them).

You can also limit the amount SL will download per second in the preferences, turning this down causes lag but does help avoid your net being capped too often

I find SL can chomp down up to 1GB in a day if you teleport around a lot or go to places where lots of avatars come and go. If you have a download limit any lower than about 10GB, I wouldn't bother at all. I remember trying it out on 5GB and it's simply not feasible. Currently I'm on 25GB a month and it's just enough. It's a matter of being careful with how and how often you use SL.

I also recommend checking out Whirlpool.

Unfortunately it's almost de rigeur in the UK. Some companies advertise 'uncapped' but when you read the small print it's definitely not uncapped...the old get out being 'fair usage'.

here in aus that would leave you without an isp, full stop.

fair is what I think is fair

But the fair usage has been disbanded since 2005 in The Netherlands.
I have an uncapped 20/1 Mbit DSL for 40 Euro's including VoIP.

They care less how much i download, and never got in trouble

Yes. And, at the same time, they're continuing their marketing blitz on how fast Comcast is.. "Wooooo!! Gots me a Porsche!! Er.. Hey, where'd all those speed limit signs come from?"

Disabling streaming media is also a big saver in bandwidth..

SL gives me about 35gigs a month on my meter.

I have a 70Gb cap per month and when that runs out I get a website asking me to pay for a topup. However I don't use 70Gb on SL alone! Capping is nothing more than a money making exercise.

That is a VERY good deal you got !!

A few JIRA entries. Limiting the cache to 1GB is just nuts.

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-10224
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-435
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-7659
http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-281

Comcast is not "going to set limits". They've already done it. The cap is 250GB per month. Gladly, my 40 hour per week SL habit only results in a peak of 53GB per month. (53GB based on BitMeter running on my computer. I also use network storage on my own LAN, so I'm sure that my ISP usage is far below that.) =^-^=

Really... The Comcast cap is there to discourage server-runners and epic bandwidth hogs. (^_^)

To see what you're running... This program is great... It keeps history on a hourly, daily, and monthly basis. (^_^)y http://codebox.no-ip.net/controller?page=bitmeter2